10 Good Reasons That You Should Eat Dragon Fruit

“Dragon Fruit” or the “Pitaya” that was once considered a rarity in India is now available in almost all supermarkets and also with vendors in the fruit market. Nevertheless, it is an exotic fruit.

In our home, we have been consuming dragon fruit quite often during this pandemic. I knew that this fruit had a good vitamin C content, but my inquisitiveness to know more about the health benefits that this fruit offered prodded me do to a thorough research about this fruit. To my surprise, it brought to light much more benefits than I thought would be, which is why I wanted to share the same with my readers.

Do you know that dragon fruit is a kind of cactus? It is a native of Central and South America but is now cultivated throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world such as Southeast Asia, India, United States, the Caribbean and Australia. In some countries, they call this as “strawberry pear.” The fruit’s texture is somewhat similar to kiwi fruit because of its black, crunchy seeds. Dragon fruit is used to flavor and color juices and alcoholic beverages, such as “Dragon’s Blood Punch.”

How To Provide A Healthy Diet For School-Going Children?

I have come across mothers of school-going children struggle with meal planning for their kids. The most common concern is how to provide a healthy diet that is appealing as well as interesting to the children’s eyes?

School-going children are aged between 6 to 12 years and this age is marked by a period of steady but gradual growth. During this stage, their cognitive skills develop and they begin to reason things. Their curiosity and awareness increase and they will have a lot of questions about everything, especially during their per-adolescent age (9 to12 years). As their mental abilities develop, they also become more finicky about food. They develop likes and dislikes during this stage and there is a gradual shift in control of food selection from the parent to the child. This poses a challenge to the parents. However, parents should educate the child about good food and proper nutrition and ensure that the child has a nutritious and well-balanced diet.

This post will cover:

1. An overview of the nutritional requirements for school-going children that are necessary for their growth in terms of height and weight.
2. Dietary sources of these nutrients.
3. Guidelines and tips to provide a healthy and interesting diet.
4. Healthy snack recipes

As a general rule, since children belonging to this age group are involved in a lot of physical activity, they need to be given food at least 4 to 5 times a day, which includes snacks in between the main meals.

Quiz Time

Image by USA-Reiseblogger from Pixabay

It’s been a year since I started this blog and it has been a very satisfying and enriching journey for me. In the process of researching for my articles and knowledge sharing with my readers, I was also able to gain enormous amount of knowledge. What started as a small spark has now grown into a full-fledged blog with 27 articles published so far. When I started this blog, I was not very sure how long I would be able to continue my work, but the overwhelming response from my readers and also the feedback and suggestions received from them has brought me so far.

The topics for my articles were sometimes planned, sometimes based on suggestions from my readers, sometimes while chatting with my friends and sometimes the ideas used to spring in my mind while reading health-related articles.

Thanks to my loving daughter who motivated me to start this blog. A big thanks to all my readers for your continued support.

This “Quiz Time” is to add some fun element to the readers in view of the first anniversary of “Arthi’s Food and Nutrition Zone.” The questions have been framed based on the articles published so far. If you are unable to answer, you will find the answers to these in my articles.

Happy brain racking 😊!! Hope you enjoy this quiz. Stay Home Stay Safe.